Martial Angels (HK 2001)

Wow! What a surprisingly entertaining B-movie action romp! Hong Kong glamour girl
Shu Qi plays a cat burglar named Cat, who has retired to lead a more simple life.
Unfortunately, she's forced back into the business when her ex-boyfriend (charming
Julian Cheung) gets in trouble with the Russian mafia. The Russians will release
Julian if she agrees to steal a piece of anti-virus software for them, so she
rounds up the old team again. These seven ultra-hot super-babes manage to pull off
the heist as well as rescue Julian, but that's only the beginning of their troubles.

First of all, the women in the film are gorgeous. They're all strong and
sexy, and none of them take any shit from anybody. And there are seven of them!
A female action lover's dream team! I've never cared much for Shu Qi, but she
managed to be very genuine and quite engaging in this film (and her hair is unbelievably
beautiful). Kelly Lin is probably the toughest and sexiest of the bunch, and the
chemistry she has with Shu Qi is delightful. It was good to see Sandra Ng again after
so many years, and she still looks great. The rest of the team seems to be unknowns,
but they're all very beautiful. Rachel Ngan is by far the prettiest of the bunch, but
they're all just friggin' amazing. (and watching her say "fuck you, asshole"
to a man at gunpoint is utterly spectacular) Unfortunately, the action scenes are
weak and low budget, but the unflinching conviction of the women makes everything
seem credible and extremely exciting. When you have limited resources, you have to
rely on presentation and the strength of your characters. These ladies take their work
very seriously, and I appreciate it immensely. The film also suffers from some
embarrassing effects work, and the addition of a sex maniac to the cast makes the
film unnecessarily sleazy. However, he manages to redeem himself in the end, which makes
him seem a little less repugnant. (although I would have much rather seen him take a bullet
from any one of the girls)

Overall, it's a fun and exciting girls 'n' guns outing that borrows heavily from
"Charlie's Angels" (2000) and
"Mission: Impossible - 2" (2000).
However, what really intrigues me is that director Clarence Ford
("Naked Killer" (1992) ) reportedly
shot and edited this film in only eleven days. I know they work fast in Hong Kong,
but that's really incredible, not to mention inspirational. Especially when you look
at the quality of domestic films that are produced in the same amount of time
(Jim Wynorski's work immediately comes to mind). Definitely worth checking out if
you enjoy female action cinema.